Development of Voltage Generation Using Bamboo Based Activated Carbon With Water Electrolyte in Three Types of Electrodes

Abstract

The use of a battery as a power supply for small electronic devices, such as camera, laptop, and handphone, with a wireless sensory network, is currently being developed. Besides, climate change keeps on worsening because of the use of fossil fuel emitting carbon and increase in global warming. However, due to climate change, many have sought alternatives to reduce carbon emissions. Therefore, the use of environmentally friendly material such as bamboo is essential. The generation of electrical energy in this study used bamboo-based activated carbon as an electrode, which was put between counter electrodes. The electrical energy was generated from a system consisting of a counter electrode – electrode – counter electrode. Three types of counter electrode tested were copper, aluminum, and aluminum foil. An electrolyte was injected between the electrode and counter electrode before being heated. The electrolyte tested was distilled water. The electrostatic force was generated by water electrolyte ions toward the poles of functional groups, the electrical charge of the pores, and electron mobility in the counter electrode; so, the release of electrons occurred. The result shows that the highest thermal sensitivity of the electrical voltage (dV/dT) was generated by aluminum 64.043 mV/°C, followed by aluminum foil 63.578 mV/°C and copper 6.136 mV/°C. This is because the electron mobility in aluminum was higher while the phosphorus content of the aluminum foil tends to attract electrons, inhibiting the release of electrons. The electrical voltage generated was effective when above the temperature of ∆T=45 °C. This is because the hydrogen bond of the water molecule was weakened, causing the ions to become easily attracted to the activated carbon surface inducing more release of electrons.

Keywords: bamboo activated carbon; counter electrode; water; thermal; functional group; voltage